" I joined the Force on March 26, 1968, about fifteen (15) minutes after my fellow troopmate, Adrian Mohle, was sworn in. Adrian and I took the train from Ottawa to Depot.  The train was about ten (10) minutes out of the Ottawa train station when it struck a car that ran the flashing railway signal lights.  The little girl that had been standing up beside her mother in the front seat, was thrown out out the car and under the wheels of the train and killed.  Nobody wore seat belts in those days and don`t think children's car seats were invented yet.  Welcome to police work!

 

After surviving training, I was transferred to Alberta.  I started off by spending seven (7) years in uniform doing general and highway patrol duties.  For the next four (4) years I worked in the RCMP Security Service, getting promoted to Corporal.  This was an interesting segment of my career and came to an end following the MacDonald Commission report into the wrongdoings of the RCMP Security Service.  The Security Service basically became a lame duck after that.  The new CSIS was created and has had nothing but growing pains since. It will take a couple of generations for CSIS (in my opinion) to get to where it should be under its present set-up.

 

After Security Service, I transferred back into uniform for one (1) year.  Subsequently, I was transferred to GIS where I spent six (6) years and was fortunate to work on some great files.  The most notable was the James Keegstra file.  He was the high school teacher at Eckville, Alberta, who taught his great twelve (12) students that the Holocaust was a HOAX and never took place!  I, along with five (5) other GIS investigators, worked on this file full-time for three and half months.   Mr. Keegstra`s  Criminal Code conviction for Promoting Hatred Against An Identifiable Group was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.

 

I spent one (1) year on Internal Affairs, getting promoted to Sergeant.  It was certainly an interesting job and nothing like Force folklore thinks they do.     I took a transfer to Ottawa and spent my last year with NCIB (National Crime Intelligence Branch) at Headquarters, where I retired.

 

Since that time, I worked for the Alberta Government for almost seven (7) years and subsequently twelve (12) years in the private investigation business, the last ten (10) with my own company. 

 

If you are ever in Calgary, please contact me.``